History Literature / TheGreatDivorce

** [=MacDonald=], too, when he calls the narrator out [[HypocriticalHumor for being]] a KnowNothingKnowItAll:

** There's also an exchange where a Ghost exclaims "God!" to the confusion of one of the Bright Ones, who only uses the word "God" as [[{{God}} a noun]]. The Ghost has to embarrassingly explain that he meant not a direct invocaation, but something like "[[GoshDangItToHeck By gum]]."

-->''[=MacDonald=]'': "He [[AnswersTotheNameOfGod ''has'' forbidden it]], that's what I'm telling ye."

** One of the ghosts makes an off-hand remark about charity, only for the saint they're talking to respond as if charity was the name of {{God}}.

** There's also an exchange where a Ghost exclaims "God!" to the confusion of one of the Bright Ones, who only uses the word "God" as [[{{God}} a noun]]. The Ghost has to embarrassingly explain that he meant something like "[[GoshDangItToHeck By gum]]."

Each ghost is met by someone who was close to them who is a native, a Bright One. The Bright Ones literally give off light. Some of them are naked, some clothed -- it doesn't make much difference. The Bright Ones try to encourage those they are meeting to come with them to the mountains. Most of them fail.

* TheAloner: Pretty much every resident of Hell ends up alone, because they can't stop quarreling with their neighbors. Every time someone settles near another person, within a week they've fought so badly that someone decides to move farther out, eventually moving to the outskirts and building a new house.

* ConversationHog: The grumbling old woman. [=MacDonald=] predicts that if she eventually gives the person with her a chance to talk, she'll be saved; but if not, she'll just go on until there's no personality left any more, only a perpetual stream of complaints.

* ForHappiness: Many Bright Ones choose to delay their own ascensions and try to rescue as many from their SelfInflictedHell as possible, because they felt the radiance and splendor of the sunrise needed to be [[GoodFeelsGood experienced by as many as possible]].

* IronicHell. The ghosts of Hell were all selfish souls obsessed with themselves, so in Hell they're allowed to go out on their own and build their own houses. Of course, these leaves them totally alone in buildings that are as tiny and false as they are. So tiny, in fact, that the entirety of Hell is smaller than a blade of grass in Heaven, torturing the damned with the knowledge of how little they are.

** In general, this is the chief problem of the damned, as repentance is the first step one makes towards salvation. It's worth noting that the one and only ghost that ends up becoming a Person during the book recognizes and acknowledges that his flaw (lust) ''is'' a flaw and permits [[WreathedInFlames an]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] to correct it.

--> A Ghost: "Now that you mention it, I don’t think we ever do give it a name. What do you call it?"
--> A Person: "We call it Hell."

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: The Hard-Bitten Ghost Deconstructs cynicism and the thought that the cynical view of the world is more reliable (the Narrator describes his appearance as being of the type that he (the Narrator) has always found reliable, and the Narrator trusts his words enough to go into a HeroicBSOD because of them). He's a conspiracy theorist who has lost all ability to enjoy anything because he's so cynical and thinks that all of the Wonders of the World are just tourist traps run by a World Combine. He's in hell, and he can't accept that he can get into Heaven because he doesn't trust the Bright People's assurances that those who choose to go to Heaven can become more solid. Heck, he doesn't believe in Heaven at all, and thinks that Heaven and Hell are secretly on the same side, [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks faking the war to extort from the Ghosts]].

* TheScottishTrope: The damned never speak of Hell as Hell. The Bright Ones are blunter about the matter, although they acknowledge that if the ghost leaves, then to them it's Purgatory.

** Heaven on the other hand is a terrifying, incomprehensible nightmare to all who don't live there (this does include the narrator). Everything is alive, or an incarnation of an Angel. There is at least one extra dimension, that gives the feel of "being outdoors in a way that makes the solar system seem like an indoor affair", which is distinctly creepy for someone without the senses to fully perceive it. And considering how alive it is it needn't have a whole number of dimensions, either - but could well be fractal. Creatures real and mythological live there. People act like they're GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul. Everything hurts and disorients its visitors as are less-than-real compared to their surroundings - just real enough to ''be'' hurt.

* EldritchLocation: Heaven is a terrifying, incomprehensible nightmare to all Hellish ghosts. Everything is alive, or an incarnation of an Angel. Creatures real and mythological live there. People act like they're GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul. Everything hurts and disorients them as they find out that they are less-than-real.

* AfterlifeTour: The narrator is lost and confused in Heaven until the spirit of Creator/GeorgeMacdonald takes him under his wing and explains what's going on. He shows to him the various types of souls whom their own heavenly guides try to convince to accept salvation, and explains why many still end up in Hell.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: Two of the damned want to be Givers, and aren't allowed. They literally have nothing to offer the residents of Heaven, and until they accept this they cannot enjoy paradise themselves.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Staggeringly so. One character continues to deny that "Heaven" and "God" are literal things that exist, and insists they're just metaphors. This is while he actually has died, is in the afterlife, and is talking to a resident of Heaven, who offers to take him to see God this very minute.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: One of the two main points of the story: there is no room for evil or sin ''whatsoever'' in Heaven. Many of the Ghosts refuse to go to Heaven because it will mean giving up their quirks, such as saying mean things to their loved ones. The contrapostive of that statement also falls under that trope. ''Everything'' in us can find its fullest and most joyful expression in Heaven, if it will only submit first to God. Specifically seen in the case of the Lizard, which represented a certain Ghost's uncontrollable lust. After the Lizard is killed by an Angel (with the Ghost's permission), the Ghost turns into a Person, and the Lizard is reincarnated as a Stallion, an expression of joyful, holy physicality.

* CardCarryingVillain: They're actually easier to save than a KnightTemplar or WellIntentionedExtremist. If you know you're evil, you can be converted to good. If you think you're good, it's harder.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The sunrise in Heaven will cause the destruction of the Grey Town (i.e. Hell) and cause terrible pain to fall over the Ghosts who choose to remain there.
* EpiphanicPrison: The Grey Town holds the damned in Hell. They can get out easily; there's a bus leading to the outskirts of Heaven, and anyone nearby can go on it. Once there, they're met by Bright Ones (blessed spirits of people they knew in life) who are there to take them to Heaven. The only thing stopping them from going are their flaws, and their inability to let go of the same.

* ForHappiness: Many Bright Ones choose to delay their own ascensions, and try to rescue as many from their SelfInflictedHell as possible, because they felt the radiance and splendor of the sunrise needed to be [[GoodFeelsGood experienced by as many as possible]].

* FullyClothedNudity: The narrator encounters a large retinue of Bright Ones and angels, and he notes that they are glowing so brightly it's impossible to tell whether they're nude and "clothed" with glory, or clothed but their glory shines through anyway. This is repeated when describing Sarah Smith in much more reverent detail.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Bright Ones and Angels are moved by love and compassion enough to want to help the hellish ghosts, but show no pity or regret should that being fail and implode on themselves back to Hell. [=MacDonald=] draws a distinction between the "action" of pity, the power of the giver to help another, and the "passion" of pity, the power of the recipient to affect (or outright [[PlayingTheVictimCard manipulate]]) another. The damned no longer have any power to make those of Heaven feel sadness or loss, or to diminish their joy in the slightest.

* IgnoredEpiphany: The Ghosts in Hell all meet someone in Heaven who directly points out what problems are keeping them from entering Heaven, but despite it being in the Ghosts' best interest, many of them plead ignorance and retreat back to the bus from Hell.

* ItsAllAboutMe: The suffering of the ghosts in Hell ultimately stems from their profound self-absorption, such that many of them are unable to understand the guidance of the Bright Ones because they interpret the advice through their own prejudices, or refuse to venture up the slopes of Heaven because they are unwilling to give up some minor character flaw.

* KarmaHoudini: Some Bright Ones appear to be this by most measures. It's a severe stumbling block for some ghosts, most notably the Big Ghost, whose guide got to Heaven via deathbed conversion. The point Lewis is making is that ''everyone'' in Heaven is a KarmaHoudini. It's no good saying one person deserves Heaven more than another, because in the end, ''no one does.'' The ones who make it in are those who realize they'll never earn it on their own merits, and accept Jesus' gift.
%%* KarmicDeath: We see a couple of these.

* LiteralMetaphor: Just before the Sun impales him with light, the narrator is reminded of the errors that could arise from assuming his vision of Heaven encompasses the entire unending super-nature of {{God}} and says "God forbid." The narrator's guide says, "He has forbidden it. That's what I'm telling ye."

* MotherhoodIsSuperior: One of the damned souls insists this is true, though it's proven hypocritical and incorrect in more ways than one. Her brother in Heaven points out that she's only speaking of her son and not even mentioning her own mother, and gently informs her that her husband and daughter revolted over her mourning for her dead son not because they were less loving but because she was obsessed and uncaring. At one point, one character points out to the narrator that she would gladly demand to take her son to Hell to keep possession of him.

** In general, this is the chief problem of the damned, as repentance is the first step one makes towards salvation. It's worth noting that the one and only ghost that ends up becoming a Person during the book recognizes and acknowledges that his flaw (lust) ''is'' a flaw, and permits [[WreathedInFlames an]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] to correct it.

* PetTheDog: The Ghost with the Lizard lets the angel kill his sin and becomes a Bright One.

* {{Pride}}: The number one factor keeping people from accepting grace is their inability to acknowledge their own faults.
* TheScottishTrope: The damned never speak of Hell as Hell. The Bright Ones are more blunt about the matter, although they acknowledge that if the ghost leaves, then to them it's Purgatory.
* SelfInflictedHell: Arguably one of the two main points of the book: The only reason the Ghosts end up in Hell is because of their own petty issues, when the chance to go to Heaven is right in front of them. Hell itself very much runs on "[[Theatre/NoExit Hell is Other People]]". On its own, it's just a rainy, depressing town, with nothing really nice there. What makes it hellish is the fact that everyone there is a jerk, and no one can stand each others' company. In fact, the town is mostly empty because quarrels bad enough that the participants decide to move away happen very frequently.

* TheShutIn: None of the hellish spirits want to venture outside their "dwelling places" when darkness falls and 'They' arrive. Whether is a this is a case of OurAngelsAreDifferent or OurDemonsAreDifferent is not explicitly mentioned, therefore left open to interpretation. If anything, ''sunrise'' ironically comes first, and hoo boy [[GoodIsNotNice the damned don't]] [[HolyBurnsEvil like that]] [[EvilCannotComprehendGood one bit.]]
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: The Hard-Bitten Ghost Deconstructs cynicism and the thought that the cynical view of the world is more reliable (the Narrator describes his appearance as being of the type that he (the Narrator) has always found reliable, and the Narrator trusts his words enough to go into a HeroicBSOD because of them). He's a conspiracy theorist who has lost all ability to enjoy anything because he's so cynical, and thinks that all of the Wonders of the World are just tourist traps run by a World Combine. He's in hell, and he can't accept that he can get into Heaven because he doesn't trust the Bright People's assurances that those who choose to go to Heaven can become more solid. Heck, he doesn't believe in Heaven at all, and thinks that Heaven and Hell are secretly on the same side, [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks faking the war to extort from the Ghosts]].

* SpiritAdvisor: Every visitor from Hell is invited to Heaven by a saint assigned to them, who acts as part parole officer and part therapist. %% (there is no better description of that job than ''Fanfic/{{ChildOfTheStorm}}'' s, so credit where it's due!) %%ZCE -- .?
** Though the Heavenly Beings are all fully visible to one another, the ghosts from Hell can only see them depending on certain circumstances.
%%* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell''.%%ZCE -- how?

* TragicIntangibility: The souls of {{Hell}} are so insubstantial that even the blades of grass in {{Heaven}} pass through their form. We see several ghosts fail to lift apples, dawdle on one side of the river they can't swim in, and slowly realize that each time they they feel excruciating pain whenever anything passes through them, including light. What's worse, the pain they experience is enough to convince them to abandon the loved ones they'll meet in Heaven and retreat back to the tiny shadows of Hell.

** Lewis had the idea for the story from a half-remembered story about a time traveller. Nothing the spirits do can effect any real change [[note]]just as nothing the time traveller could do made any difference to the past -- right down to being able to bend a blade of grass or bite into a sandwich[[/note]] -- Hell is always damp and miserable and Heaven is so much "realer" than the spirits that the grass cuts into their feet instead of bending to them.

* UnreliableNarrator: When not called on it, the ghosts will present very unreliable accounts -- the Tousle-Headed Poet and the grumbling woman in particular.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: The Apostate Bishop argues this. It's better to travel hopefully than to arrive. The Bright One [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] this mindset by returning that if you knew that to be true, you could not travel in hope, because how can you hope to reach an inferior destination?

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]] Used in-universe. The apostate bishop speculates about how Christianity could have turned out differently (and, in his opinion, better) if Jesus had not been crucified, and had continued teaching throughout his life. This is, of course, completely missing the point: according to Christian orthodoxy, it's Jesus' death and resurrection that makes it possible for sinners (that is, everyone) to enter heaven.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Sarah Smith's husband Frank's sin was using other people's pity to manipulate them and make them miserable. This trait is represented by the Tragedian.

* SpiritAdvisor: Every visitor from Hell is invited to Heaven by a saint assigned to them, who acts as part parole officer and part therapist. %% (there is no better description of that job than ''Fanfic/{{ChildOfTheStorm}}'' s, so credit where it's due!) %% Though the Heavenly Beings are all fully visible to one another, the ghosts from Hell can only see them depending on certain circumstances.

* SpiritAdvisor: Every visitor from Hell is invited to Heaven by a saint assigned to them, who acts as part parole officer and part therapist. Though the Heavenly Beings are all fully visible to one another, the ghosts from Hell can only see them depending on certain circumstances.

* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: The Hard-Bitten Ghost Deconstructs cynicism and the thought that the cynical view of the world is more reliable (the Narrator describes his appearance as being of the type that he (the Narrator) has always found reliable, and the Narrator trusts his words enough to go into a HeroicBSOD because of them). He's a conspiracy theorist who has lost all ability to enjoy anything because he's so cynical, and thinks that all of the Wonders of the World are just tourist traps run by a World Combine. He's in hell, and he can't accept that he can get into Heaven because he doesn't trust the Bright People's assurances that those who choose to go to Heaven can become more solid. Heck, he doesn't believe in Heaven at all, and thinks that Heaven and Hell are secretly on the same side, [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks faking the war to extort from the Ghosts]].

* SpiritAdvisor: Every visitor from Hell is invited to Heaven by a saint assigned to them. Though the Heavenly Beings are all fully visible to one another, the ghosts from Hell can only see them depending on certain circumstances.

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** ''The Great Divorce'' can be seen as a modern(ish), less unsubtle counterpart to John Bunyan's classic ''Literature/ThePilgrimsProgress''. Both works are allegories for the Christian faith where almost every character represents an ideology or a personal vice, and they both [[spoiler:turn out to be dreams at the end]]. Lewis also wrote ''The Pilgrim's Regress'', which was more blatantly inspired by Bunyan's work right down to the title.
** This one is also a fairly obvious SpiritualSuccessor to ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. It's a dream-vision of a journey from Hell to Heaven via something not unlike Purgatory; Lewis appears as the everyman narrator of his own book; and he has a SpiritAdvisor: Creator/GeorgeMacDonald represents a combination of both Virgil in Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice in Paradiso (when Lewis first meets Creator/GeorgeMacDonald, he claims that reading Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's books as a teenager was for him 'like Dante's first sight of Beatrice'). Sarah Smith is always portrayed in very Beatrice-like terms, and her failed reunion with her husband is a portrayal of how Beatrice's reunion with Dante could have gone horribly wrong if Dante hadn't had the humility to accept her rebukes, and accept happiness without needing to be right.

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Bright Ones and Angels are moved by love and compassion enough to want to help the hellish ghosts, but feel no pity or regret should that being fail and implode on themselves back to Hell. Indeed, the concepts of sadness and loss ''are alien'' to them (or, at least, they're not negatively affected in any way). Only God can, and does, feel pity for the damned and be moved to do anything about them. There hasn't been a single soul in Hell that He hasn't tried to talk some sense into.

* MotherhoodIsSuperior: One of the damned souls thinks this is true. Her brother in Heaven gently informs her that her husband and daughter revolted over her mourning for her dead son not because they were less loving but because she was obsessed and uncaring. At one point, one character points out to the narrator that she would gladly demand to take her son to Hell to keep possession of him.

* TakeThat: DiscussedTrope in the Preface. Lewis claims that he's not antagonistic to Creator/WilliamBlakes' book ''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' per se or even Blake himself; rather, his problem is with the idea that ultimate good and ultimate evil are in any way compatible with one another.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: All ghosts are. Even as the Bright Ones point this out via psychoanalysis, they either cannot admit their shortcomings, or confront them. They find any welcoming audience or reunion, [[NoPlaceForMeThere unbearable]], and many of them flat out [[RedemptionRejection refuse to venture any further and leave]].

* AnythingThatMoves: One of the Ghosts appears to have grown so obsessed with sex that she is unable to conceive of any purpose for interaction other than seduction. She actually tries to seduce the Bright Ones who are trying to talk to her into entering Heavem.

* EmptyBedroomGrieving: The bereaved mother is called out on this by her brother, pointing out that by keeping her dead son's bedroom untouched for ten years she made things worse for the other members of their family.

* ShrineToTheFallen: One of the shades was an [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]] who made the rest of her family miserable with her favoritism for her son. Part of her ExcessiveMourning after his death involved keeping his room completely untouched.

* NeverMyFault: This is the chief problem of the damned, as repentance is the first step one makes towards salvation. It's worth noting that the one and only ghost that ends up becoming a Person during the book recognizes and acknowledges that his flaw (lust) ''is'' a flaw, and permits [[WreathedInFlames an]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] to correct it.